For some time now, Leafmore High School has been the setting for unexplained disappearances. In this survival horror game, you take control of a group of 5 American students. With your friends, you try to unravel the mysterious happenings at this unremarkable-looking school. The night will be long and survival not will not be easy...

Reviews

“The team drew inspiration from Resident Evil, Alone In The Dark, Project Zero, and, of course, Silent Hill. They also chipped in a whole slew of their own ideas.”
7.0 – Eurogamer

About This Game

For some time now, Leafmore High School has been the setting for unexplained disappearances. In this survival horror game, you take control of a group of 5 American students. With your friends, you try to unravel the mysterious happenings at this unremarkable-looking school. The night will be long and survival not will not be easy...

A few years ago, strange things started occurring in the usually quiet American school of Leafmore. Some students are said to have heard awful screams, and there is talk of mysterious disappearances.
After one of their friends mysteriously disappears, a group of students decide to investigate the disturbing events. One evening after class, they stay behind and are locked inside the school, determined to discover what is going on.
Down long, dimly-lit corridors and in dark classrooms, Shannon, Kenny, Ashley, Stan and Josh will try to find out why their school has become so terrifying - and will try to stay alive.

- Discover the game that has become a classic in the survival horror game genre.
- Every student in the group has a special ability.
- All kinds of weapons can be used: baseball bats, handguns, shotguns, and much more.
- Solve puzzles.
- Play alone or with a friend in co-op mode on the same screen.
- Soundtrack composed by award-winning composer Olivier Derivière.
- Compatible with the Xbox 360 controller.

Well, first off I want to state that I played Obscure only in local-coop (there is actual NO online co-op) and will review the game as such. And I have to say that Obscure is one of the best co-op experiences I've ever had. The nature of the game makes playing together necessary or rather playing "solo" impossible.

But let's start at the beginning and look at the different parts of the game:- The story: It is interesting enough to pay attention but don't expect too much from a survival horror game. The premise is that your friend Kenny vanished on the school grounds so his friends decide to stay after school and to search for him.

- The gameplay: You have 4 or 5 characters you can choose from each with their own hitpoints (so you can change at the actual meeting place if one is hurt too much) and their own little special ability. For example Josh can tell if there is still something in the room for you to pick up which is actually helpful. Also the characters can die and you can keep playing the game till all of them are dead. The camera angles are "dynamically fixed" (comparable to Resident Evil: Code Veronica X if you know that game) which means you will see the area always from the same direction but it will move with you to a certain degree. Also the camera is fixed on player one. This means in co-op the second player can go off screen and die there pretty easily. So you need to stay together. Other than that you have the Resident Evil room like system meaning that most time ennemies will not follow you in another room (there are small exceptions).The ammonition is scarce (on normal there is more than enough). The same goes for the healing items and the discs needed to save (yes you can save everywhere as long as you have the disc item but each save will waste one of them). There are also melee weapons which help to save ammo on different ennemies.The fighting itself is normal but has an interesting additional mechanic: the use of light. You can use your flashlight to make the ennemies "weaker" as they have some kind of creep protecting them which is sensitive to light. But while you use the flashlight power mode you can't shoot so you have to make a decision which gives a tiny little small amount of tactics. Other than that you have different type of weapons and ammo.

- The soundtrack: It creates the necessary atmosphere for the game and I liked it a lot. A small grain of salt for players who owned the PS version. The intro song has been changed. You can look up the old intro and the song was definetely better but the license expired. It is not the end of the world.

- Replayability: After completing the game there is a hard mode and you get alternate costumes. And the hard mode in this one is actually really hard. Ammo is divided by atleast two, some weapons are obtained only later on, discs are halved as well and healing items are cut to a fourth I had the feeling and yes, monster do make more damage. With the AI this mode can probably end pretty bad. Also completing the Hard mode is necessary for you achievement completionists. With a good partner you can get all achievements in around 10 hours.

Well I don't know what to say more. If you like survival horror games like Resident Evil 1 - Code Veronica X and you are searching for really good local co-op experience then you should definetely get this one (although some may think it is a bit expensive for its age, I got it for the full price and did not regret the purchase).

PS: If you have questions just ask. I'll try to answer them as fast as possible.PPS: It's a shame that I never got the chance to play Resident Evil Outbreak Multiplayer Mode (or even the single player mode since it didn't sound as much as fun as playing with others).

An old school survival horror,in which 5 students brave the horrors unleashed on their school,which manages to stay enjoyable despite its age.

Pros:

-fairly interesting story-considering its age,graphics are still decent-oldschool soundtrack has a retro but still enjoyable quality to it-coop is an option-a few extras/game mode unlocks for those so inclined

Neutral:

-permadeath on characters,adds to the challenge but can lead to frustration and/or force a reload-limited amount of saves

Cons:

-pretty cheesy overall-clunky controls and poor autoaim make combat harder than it'd be (I used a controller,so can't vouch for k/m)-uninspired last boss battle-companion AI isn't the best-despite having 5 characters there's not alot of difference between them,nor are they really fleshed out background-wise-short length-no widescreen support

Overall Obscure is a decently enjoyable experience and a good throwback to old school games,but you have to accept its shortcomings-some of which come from its age-to properly enjoy it.

I'd say go for it when it's on sale if you already had your fill of old survival horror titles and are looking for more,just don't expect to find a life changing game experience.

Obscure is a multiplayer (local only) survival horror game. The game takes place at Leafmore High where 4 students go in search of one of their friends who went missing on campus. During the search they discover that the school is hiding many mysterious that could be directly tied to their friends dissapearance. It has been said that this game takes inspiration from the late 90s flick "The Faculty". After completing the game I am convinced this is true.

The game plays much like what you would expect from a traditional survival horror game. You will explore the campus in search of keys and levers to gain access to new areas all while discovering readable documents to fill you in on plot details. You may also be rewarded for exploring by discovering ammunition, healing items or even CD's which you can use to save the game. The CD's work very similar to Resident Evil's ink ribbons except that you can save at any time as long as you have a CD in your inventory. There are also a fair share of puzzles to solve, most of which prove fairly simple.

One of Obscure's strong points comes from it's combat. The combat in general is pretty basic, you can shine your light on enemies to hold them at bay while firing away with your guns, however if you pay attention to your surroundings you can often use the environment to your advantage. (Just remember the enemies are weakened by light).

One of Obscure's weakpoints comes from the AI. Again the game does have a local coop option and it is obvious that is how the game was meant to be played. Playing through on single player you will control 2 characters at a time. You will be in direct control of 1 and the other will be controlled by AI, however you can swap back and fourth between these two characters with the press of a button. Don't get me wrong, the AI knows how to dish out damage. Where they fall short is in their ability to avoid damage and once your AI dies, they are dead. Gone for the rest of the game and will never respawn. If you are playing single player, make sure to your AI does not have a bat for a weapon or they will die. Stick them with a pistol and keep them away from certain enemy types and you should manage just fine.

Obscure was indeed a fun playthrough once you learn how to work with the AI. The exploring is satisfying and the atmosphere is just creepy enough to keep you on edge. The game is relatively short and you can expect to finish in around 5 hours. If you are a fan of the older Resident Evil styled horror games you will enjoy Obscure. I recommend the energy drinks.

I played Obscure back on the PS2 at its original release and remember being pleasently surprised. This game utilises "fixed camera angles" like the classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill games but mixes it up with a cheesy high school teen slasher flick story, and combining gameplay from both franchises. This survival horror has alot of the classic elements you would expect; variety of actual puzzles, limited supplies, dark and tense atmosphere, unique monster designs and since this is a co-op experience, reliability on your partner.

Speaking of partners each different character you can play as, and switch to at any time, have their own special abilities - so it is advisable to use different characters in the appropriate situation, I think this adds depth to the gameplay.

The story is cheesy, not serious, but there is a charm to it. It also features my favourite "game fetish" storyline in which everything is normal at first, but slowly devulges into the horror you came to expect, and you have to fight and learn the mystery behind how this all happened.

The combat is basic, there is auto-lock, power attacks and standard attacks, but that's all this game needs I feel. The good thing is that the controls are easy to learn and complexity is not needed here.

Unfortunately, for me, the music is quickly forgettable so don't expect some Akira Yamaoka level of quality here. That being said, what I hear fits what is happening, just that it isn't something you would listen to casually.

I recommend this game to fans of the classic RE and SH games, and looking for their fix on survival horror with some original concepts to it. However, this game was originially released back in 2005, so expect some outdated mechanics compared to modern horror.

Also, this PC port is a re-release of an older port but adds native widescreen support and full controller support, among general optimisations to work on modern Windows systems. The only bummer is that there is still no mouse support. I should also mention the game does indeed run at 60fps.

This reminds of those high school horror movies played out at as a 3rd person survival horror game.

The gameplay, action, suspense and camera movement is much like what you would find in games like Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Silent Hill and Cold Fear, except in this game you play as several high school students, Stan, Kenny, Ashley, Shannon and Josh, that you can switch over to at any time and you will need to for teamwork to pass certain obstacles. The game feels good in that way because it brings extra life to the game rather than thinking you are playing as a lonely character. Each character has a special ability which will make progressing through the game easier if you don't let them get killed.

Stan by far is the best character. His personality is just too carefree and cool. :P

But if you want to have real fun, invite a friend over and grab an extra controller for 2 player Co-op playing out the story of the game. It is a lot of fun! You can even share items and weapons, passing them to each other when needed.

A couple of downsides are that the game hasn't been updated to support wide screen monitors, so you will have a 4:3 aspect ratio unless you lower the res to 1600x1200, 1280x1024, 1152x864 or lower to get a full screen without side borders. Also, use of a controller is highly recommended as the game really wasn't optimized for mouse and keyboard.

Obscure is a great game though and yet another surprise to appear on Steam. :)